


A Jealous Shadow

by Yusuke (foxjar)



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Jealousy, M/M, Minor Kurusu Akira & Togo Hifumi, Post-Canon, Romance, Self-cest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 08:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18028673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxjar/pseuds/Yusuke
Summary: Talking with Joker through the mirror has become a habit for Akira.





	A Jealous Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> I am here to partake of this ship off anon, now that Chocolate Box reveals are over! :^)
> 
> Prompt: January 10 — mirror monologue.

Akira grabs a chair from the dining room and drags it into the bathroom. It's a Saturday evening, and his father is off on a business trip while his mother is out shopping. He almost laughs at the thought of them seeing him like this — so determined to displace the furniture.

He made a promise, after all, and he's not one to refuse his friends anything.

Even if that “friend” does happen to be Joker, glowering in the mirror as Akira sets the chair down in the small room. He almost feels as if he's being interrogated, or like he's being visited in jail, and he shivers at the thought.

Joker reaches out toward him from inside the mirror, his face relaxing. “Hey. Don’t think about that now.”

When he looks at Joker’s face, it's easier for him to let the negative thoughts drift aside. Even if he's not smiling, Akira can feel the confidence emanating from him like an aura, and some of that sinks into himself. They do share the same face, after all, even if at some point things became more complicated than that.

“So, what was it you wanted to talk about?” Akira asks, crossing his arms. Every so often, Joker will request a “private audience,” of sorts, with him. It used to be about their work as Phantom Thieves, before it evolved into lengthy discussions about the meaning of life and the point of his existence.

It's a sort of envy that Joker seems to possess; although he can see through Akira’s eyes, he cannot feel the physical sensations. He revealed all of this throughout the months they've been speaking together like this, bit by bit as Akira learns just how human his other self is. In the beginning, maybe they were the same entity, but over time, Joker became his own person, even if he doesn't have a body to call his own.

After the collapse of the Metaverse, Joker intended to leave; he had nothing to stay for, after all. He served his purpose, and he was ready to return to whatever it was out there — perhaps nothing at all.

Akira begged him to stay. The thought of being without him, after having been close to him like this for so long, makes his heart ache. These meetups in the bathroom have become a comforting routine for him, if nothing else.

“Just wanted to get you away from that girl,” Joker says.

“Who? Hifumi?”

“How should I know?” Joker smiles; that charismatic smirk that always wins him over.

There's a hint of jealousy in his voice, although the only thing he did with Hifumi was visit the bookstore. With Joker being able to see through his eyes, he should know everything that happened.

“You misunderstand me, Akira.” The way he says his name is surreal: with his own face and voice, and yet so intoxicating. “It’s  _her_ I’m jealous of.”

It takes Akira a few seconds to understand what he means. He's jealous not of the way Akira is able to see, touch, and smell the world; he's upset because he spent time with someone else.

Joker continues: “She could kiss you any time she pleases. Could just pull you in…”

"And you can’t?" Akira's voice is almost pleading as he stares into the mirror.

"No," Joker says, the grin slipping from his face. "I can’t."


End file.
